Bag assemblage



T.-E. PIAZZE BAG AssEMBLAGE April 16, 194o.'

Filed April 30, 1938 llzlzvllllh w114 ,1111111111111 l INVENTOR.

Y AoRNEY y initalia!l Apr. is, 194e UNITED STATES V'PATENT ori-lcs Application Apr'll 30, 1938, Serial No. 205,253

3 Claims.

'I'he present invention relates vin general to improvements in the manufacture ofbag structures for confining batches of diverse commodities, and relates more speciilcally toimprove- 5 ments in the construction of bags formed of relatively thin and smooth sheetmaterlsl such as v cellulose lm.

An object of my present invention is to provide a collapsible bag formed of cellulose 111m or the like, which may be readily opened or distended.

As indicated in my prior application Serial No. 199,369,fi1ed April 1st, 1938, it has heretofore been common practice to utilize transparent bags formed of relativelythin and flexible sheet ma;

terial such as cellulose'iilm for the purpose ofpacking batches of diverse commodities to facilitate merchandizing thereof. These bags are ordinarily formedA of sheets of the vglossy material which are 'folded into tubular formation and have one end sealed, and the nished bags are adapted to be collapsed into at condition in order to permit compact stacking thereof during handling, storage and shipment, prior to being g5. filled with the commodity. Because of the thin and glossy characteristics of the cellulose film, the'front and rear walls or panels of these bags, especially when the structures are sharply creased along the opposite. sides, tend to cohere orstick together particularly at the mouths or open bag ends, thus making it diillcult to open vthe bag structures for the introduction of material. 'I'his sticking tendency not only retards the opening and filling operations, but also frequently results in tearing of the bags during the opening or distending thereof,`thereby entailing considerable waste.

It is therefore'a, more specic objectl of my present invention to provide simple and eiiective means for facilitating opening or spreading of a bag formed of cellulose illm or other sheet material having,similarcharacterlstics, and for substantially eliminating tearing of the bags while the same are being distended for filling. In accordance with this invention, I merely emboss or distort the portion Aof onewall of a collapsible bag adjacent to the inlet opening or mouth of the bag, so that the bag panels canvnot come into uninterrupted surface contact a'djacent to the llin'gvopening'. The Aembossingor distortion is preferably so performed,- that collapsing `of the bag. will f cause small, air pockets to form between the bag walls at land near the open end, andV actual separation ofthese portions of the walls', can thereafter be quickly and readily effected by gripping the open bag end between the fingers and by rubbing the walls at the free edges so as to distort and relatively displace these wall portions and to freely admit air to the bag interior. Aside from greatly facilitating the 5 .opening of bags formed of cellulose lm, my present improvement has also proven highly benecial in eliminating tearing of the bags during the initial opening and distending operation, and

the embossing of the bag ends canv be accom-` 10 ,plished by various-ways at but slight additional eXpellSe.

'A clear conception of several embodiments of. my present invention, and of the mode of manu'- facturing and Aof utilizing bags built in accordl5 ance with the improvement, may be hadby referring to. the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the various views.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one of my improved bags in'flatly folded condition and having a por-v tion thereof broken away to reveal the back wall;

Fig. 2 is a greatly enlarged transverse section through the mouth or open end of the bag of l, the section being taken along the line 2 2;

Fig. 3 is a planv perspective view of the bag of Fig. 1, with a human hand applied thereto in the act of opening the bag mouth;

Fig. 4 is a plan viewof another of the improved bags in folded condition, and having a modified mouth or open end and a portion thereof broken away; and

Fig. 5 is a top view of the bag of Fig. 4.

While the inventionV has been illustrated and described herein as being applied to Vplain bags formed of cellulose illm and each havingy but'a single edge crease on each side, it is not the intent to thereby unnecessarily restrict the scope, since the improved features are more generally applicable to other types of bags formed of material-having characteristics like those of cellulose iilm, and to bags ofthe type shownk in my prior. application, above referredyto.

Referring specifically to Figs.- 1 to 3 inclusive,

the improved bag shown therein is preferably formed. of a single sheet of thin cellulose illm and comprises a front wall or panel 8 formed integral with and' foldably connected to a rear panel or wall 9 by means of sharp opposite side creases Il, and a bottom closure Ii at the lower ends of the panels l, 9 formed in any suitable manner. The rear wall or 'panel i is v provided with y a splice or joint i2` formed by theoverlapping 65 l and the upper portionof the front wall or panel '9 is provided with a thumb notch I3 of well known formation. The front and rear walls 8, 9 have upper edges Il. IB respectively atthe mouth of the bag,l and these edges `except for the thumb notch I3 are disposed in approximately the same transverse edges o1 the sheet,

- plane. The bag'structure thus far described is of old and well known construction. but in accordance with my present-invention I provide a zone or area I 6 at the upper portion of one or both ofthe wall panels 8, 9, which is indented, corrugated, embossed or Aroughened to provide numerous air confining pockets I1 facing the adjacentportion of the air pockets i1 will obviously prevent the inner surface of the front panel area I8 from-coming into continuous surface contact with the adjacent surface of the other panel when the bag is collapsed, and will therefore eliminate cohesive aci ".tion between these surfaces. In the bag of Figs.

'itil 1 and 2, the front panel 8 has been embossed or distorted, and the rear panel 9 is plane.

vWhen it desired to open a bag thus provided with an embossed area I8, it is only necessary to vgrip the mouth portion with the hand i8 as illustrated in Fig. 3, and to thereafter relatively latery ally shift or move the gripping lingers. The air pockets I1 formed at the area I6 of the front panel 8, and the air confined within these pockets,

lwill then cause the bag mouth to quickly open and will freely admit other air into the bag between the walls 8, 9. The bag may thus be rapidly and conveniently opened for the admission of material, and may subsequently be supplied with commodity and sealed. either by applyingladhesive to the inner surface of the embossed area I, or by folding this area together with the corresponding area of the rear wall ,9 downwardly over the body of the bag and by nally stapling or gluing.

While the general construction of the modied bag of. Figs. 4 and'5 is quite similar to that of Figs. l to 3 inclusive, the mouth portion of this modified assemblage is somewhat diierent.. In.

the bag of Figs. 4 and 5, the area i6 of the front panel 8 has been somewhat stretched to form air conning corrugations il', and the corresponding area of the rear wall 9 may A or may not be stretched but should preferably be fiat or uncorrugated. The corrugating or distortion of the area i6' may be produced by embossing or other-'- wise, and the air confining corrugations I1 will also function to prevent cohesion lor sticking of the mouth portions of this modied bag, to each Y other. The modied bag assemblage may obviously be conveniently and quickly opened in the manner shown in Fig. 3 with the aid of a hand I8, and may be loaded and sealed the same as described in connection with the bag oi? Fig.' 3.

The distortion of the bag areas IE, i6' may be accomplished in any convenient-manner as by embossing the sheet with rolls or otherwise, during construction of the bags, and need not assume the precise forms shown and-described herein. It is desirable, however, in order to eliminete detrimental cohesion or sticmngof the conother panel when thev bag is collapsed as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. These Y along the entire area of areas at. the bag mouth portions, to priesurfaces tacting vent continuous contact of the adjacent of these areas when the bags are collapsed. The

simplest mode of preventing such continuous surface contact is to provide air connin'g pockets which will naturally confine the air when the bas is collapsed,-and it has been foimd that only very small pockets will accomplish the desired result.

It has also been found that the provision of means for effecting such convenient and rapid opening of the bags, aside from saving considerable time in loading, also materially reduces. waste of bags vby tearing at the edges Il, I; and the roughened areas may obviously be applied either to the front,-rear or both'walls of the bag. The cost of producing these embossed or roughened areas is very slight considering the advantages thereof, and the invention has proven highly successful as applied to thin, flexible and glossy sheet material such as cellulose of embossing or distortion herein shown and described, for various modifications within the scope of the claims may occur to persons skilled in the art. f

-I claim:

' 1. A bag formed of cellulose lm and including and rear walls which contact eachV other v front when the bag is substantially fiat and the collapsed, one of said walls being other of said walls -adlm. Itl should b e understood that it is not intended to limit the present invention to the exact forms jacent the bag mouth having a zone which is'indented out of its plane at a plurality of pointsextending substantially along the mouth of the bag to form spaced air confining pockets which are closed by contact of adjacent portion of said substantially at Ybag wall, whereby to prevent cohering and adhesion of said walls at thebag mouth and to facilitate separation thereof.

. 2. A bag formed of front when the bag is collapsed,

cellulose lm and-including one of said walls bethe indentations with the and rear walls which-contact each other ing substantially nat and the other of said walls adjacent the bag mouth having a corrugated zone with the corrugations extending substantially parallel to and substantially vthroughout. 'the area of the mouth of the bag to form spaced air c onfining pockets which are closed by contact of said corrugations with the adjacent portion of said substantially flat bag wall, whereby to prevent cohering and sticking of said cellulose walls atthe bag mouth and to facilitate separation thereof for the purpose vof fllling. Y

3. A bag formed of cellulose film and including Yfront Aand rear Vwalls which contact each other when the bag is collapsed, one of said walls being substantially fiat and the other of said walls adjacent the b ag A stantially at right angles to and substantially y the bag mouth to form spaced al1' confining pockets which are closed by contact of said corrugations with the adjacent portion of said flat bag wall, where-- by to preventcohering and sticking o! said walls at the bag mouth and THOMAS E. PIAZZE.

.mouth being corrugated sub-.-

to facilitate separation thereof for the introduction of ma 

